Antique Show Hunting

This past Saturday was the Christie Antiques Show in Dundas, ON.  This event is a semi-annual event (May and September), with over 300 dealers and almost 10 acres of antiques.  This is probably Canada's largest show, and the funny thing is that it is literally a stone's throw away from my parent's place (well, if you have a really really good arm).  Point being, it is an easy commute for me, and this was my fourth show as an attendee.  I usually go to the spring show however, so I was interested in seeing how the fall counterpart compared.

I was excited to bring a bit of a crowd with me this time:  my mom and sister, my aunt and cousin, and my cousin's husband (and new baby!).  We usually have a few items we are looking for, but we (my mom and I) are always intentional in scouring the tea cup selection.  We love our tea cups, and a good number of my collection has come from this show.  I've even started pin-pointing my favourite vendors!  Sadly, my go-to vendor wasn't at the fall show this year, but we did find a vendor with great prices and selection - and we learned a thing or two from another shopper who knew her tea cups!

Leanne (my cousin) was looking for a ewer, which I found out is a larger water pitcher, usually accompanied by a basin.  It's what people used to wash up with before there was running water in the house! And she found one she loved.

An antique show (or store) can be a bit intimidating if you don't know what you are doing.  I'm not an expert, but below are some tips from my experiences.

ANITQUE SHOW TIPS:

1. Go early if you want the best picks, to beat the crowds.  Go late if you are hoping for end of the day deals.
2. If you see something you love, don't expect that it will still be there if you leave it.
3. Know your stuff:  if you are looking for something in particular, do some research ahead of time so that you will know what to look for, and if the price being asked is fair.
4. Negotiation is possible.  The best thing to do is to ask: "Is this your best price?" or "Can you do better on this price?" or something similar.
5. Don't insult the vendor by commenting loudly if you think something is overpriced.  It could be that it is overpriced, or it could be that you aren't as knowledgeable on the item as you suspected.  If they won't come down on it, say thank you and walk away.

(This isn't one of mine - I grabbed it from Google images.  I will post my tea cups soon!)

Antique Show Success

Yesterday my friend Frankie and I went to the Christie Antique Show. Before now, this show had not really been on my radar, but apparently I was the only one. Frankie and I were only there for a few hours, but the scores of people there when we arrived at 9 am and the traffic jams we witnessed as scads more were arriving as we left leave me to believe that this was the place to be.

While I wanted to bear witness to this great gathering of antique dealers and buyers, I was also hoping to find a small china or curio cabinet for my house. I felt a bit of sensory overload as we began walking up and down the aisles of the marketplace, and even more frustration as I soon realized that no one was planning on giving anything away (translation: the prices we saw were far beyond my budget). But suddenly, there it was: the diamond in the rough we were looking for. It even had the glass front and bottom drawer I had envisioned. When we looked at the price tag, Frankie asked me “do you think it is missing a zero?” I bought it for a song: literally, if it had been any cheaper, I would have asked to sing some sort of tune instead of exchanging monetary funds.

My plan is to paint it out the same colour as our trim and moldings, which incidentally are the same colour that I plan to paint our kitchen cupboards. I am also hoping to be able to wallpaper the back wall of the cabinet. I will post the pictures of the finished product when I get it done.

As a side note, Frankie and I saw Sarah Richardson and Tommy at the Antique Show, filming for some upcoming show. I had a funny feeling we would spot them or some other HGTV personality there. I desperately wished in that moment that I had some connection with them other than “hey, remember that episode when…?” Just to chat with them about design or some random current event even. They seemed like fun people.

Here is the cabinet I bought... Looks like this guy was interested in it as well. Sorry!